Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on identifying genetic and environmental factors for cancer, with a particular emphasis on understanding the etiology of cancer development in the pediatric population and in individuals with inherited cancer syndromes. Her work is cross-disciplinary and employs both traditional and novel epidemiological and genomic tools.

Dr. Johnson is currently the principal investigator of an international patient registry of individuals with the cancer syndrome Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) that incurs a strongly increased risk for a number of different tumor types, including pediatric brain tumors. She is conducting studies in this population that aim to understand genetic and environmental determinants of pediatric brain tumors.

Dr. Johnson also collaborates with investigators at Washington University’s Genome Institute to develop and apply biologically informed software tools for the analysis and discovery of genomic risk factors for cancer in both adults and children.